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C4-202

Session 2004
CIGR

Electric Field Induced Voltages on Metallic Storage Tanks Near HV Transmission Lines

R.M.RADWAN*

R.Y.AMER Cairo University (Egypt)

A.M.EMAM

In this paper it is intended to compute the electric field induced voltages on spherical and cylindrical tanks near the 500kV and 220kV Egyptian transmission lines using the charge simulation method. Models of charges are introduced to represent the induced surface charges on these tanks due to the electric field. The effect of conductors height, tank radius, distance from the center line, phase sequence of the double circuit transmission line and height of the tank above ground on the induced voltages is investigated. A laboratory model is built to verify some of the results. It is found that, the induced voltage on metallic tanks due to electric fields may reach several kilo-volts depending on their location and dimensions. It is found also that the maximum induced tank voltage for a double circuit transmission line occurs when the two circuits have the same phase sequence. Keywords: Electric Field Storage Tanks Line Charges Induced Voltage. 1. INTRODUCTION Metallic cylindrical and spherical tanks are largely used to reserve fuel (petrol and natural gas). In many cases, these tanks are installed near high voltage power lines. Hence an induced voltage due to their electric field appears on these tanks if they are insulated from the earth or when earth connectors are disconnected or during installations. These voltages may reach few kilovolts, therefore they may cause hazards for personnel and maintenance crews. Many studies have discussed the disturbance of the electric field due to the presence of shielding objects [1,2]. In these studies the potential of the metallic objects was not computed. Also, these studies were restricted to uniform fields only and the dimensions of these objects are very small compared to the tanks sizes[1]. The aim of this work is to evaluate the induced tank voltages due to nearby high voltage transmission lines. 2. CALCULATION TECHNIQUE In this paper, the charge simulation method [3-5]is used to compute the electric field induced voltages on metallic tanks near the 500 and 220 kV Egyptian T.L. with configurations shown in figure 1 (a & b) respectively. In the absence of metallic tanks the surface charge on the phase conductors and ground wire (wires) are uniformly distributed along the Z direction, figure 2. With the presence of metallic tanks, the surface charge is no longer uniform. However, it is symmetrical about the Y axis, see the same figure. The surface charge on each subconductor along the positive Z-direction is simulated by a discrete line *Roshdy Radwan - Faculty of Engineering - Cairo University Email:aemam55@hotmail.com

charges located at the center of the subconductor. To account for the nonuniform distribution of charges along the positive Z-direction , the discrete line charges is divided into Ms sections, of which (Ms-1) finite sections and a semi infinite section at the end. The length of each finite section is a fraction of tank radius. Each section is assumed to have unknown uniform charge density. The surface charges on each ground wire are simulated in the same way as the charge on phase conductors, figure (2).
12 12. 6.7

.. 5.1
Tank

..
10.2 Tank

..

6.6

..
9.2

30. H=19.1 Dt Dimensions in meters

.. 5.4
2Rt

..
2 Rt H=15.7 Dt Dimensions in meters

Figure (1-a) Configuration of the 500kV T.L. tower

Y

Figure (1-b) Configuration of the 220kV T.L. tower

Distance from the center line(Dt)

Tank

Hg X Y 2rg 2rs

One semi-finite line charge

Ms-1 finite line charges Tank

Hg Z

Figure (2) Charge representation of the 500kV transmission line and a nearby spherical metallic tank SPHERICAL TANKS The surface charges on a metallic tank are represented by unknown point charges distributed along circumferences of rings parallel to the ground as shown in figure (3). The choice of numbers and location of simulating charges are reached by following a long process of iterative optimization. In order to determine the simulating charges, a system of equations is formulated similar to that in [5]. CYLINDRICAL TANKS There are many shapes of cylindrical tanks, in this work the cylindrical tank is assumed to have a flat cover. The surface charges on the side wall of the tank are represented by unknown point charges

distributed along the circumferences of rings parallel to ground inside the tank, figure (4).
P2

Rts P1 Y

P3 Vertical view X

P1 P2,P3 X Z Point Plan view

Figure (3) Charge representation on spherical tanks These rings have the same radius and uniformly distributed along the height of the tank. These rings also are concentric with the axis of the tank. The surface charges on the bottom of the tank are represented by unknown point charges distributed along circumferences of concentric rings parallel to ground inside the tank and have the same height from the ground, figure (5). The surface charges over the cover of the tank are represented by the same way as the bottom but the rings in this case have another height from the ground, see figures (4) and (5). In order to determine the simulating charges, a system of equations similar to those for spherical tanks are formulated.
Charge representation on the tank cover

Ht Charge representation on the tank bottom

Figure(4) Charge representation on cylindrical tanks side wall

Rtc

Figure (5) Charge representation on cylindrical tanks bottom

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Spherical Tanks: A computer program is constructed to solve the system of equations [5] and compute the induced tank voltage. The number of simulating point charges and their locations are chosen such that the voltage variations around the surface of the tank are very small. Here the tank is simulated by Nt point charges distributed along the circumferences of rings as shown in figure (3). By successive changes for the number and locations of simulating point charges, the optimum number and locations of these point charges are obtained. When the number is 118 point charges distributed along the circumferences of 11 rings, this distribution gives an average deviation of 0.18%. Cylindrical Tanks: After long successive changes for the number and locations of simulating point charges, the optimum number and locations of these point charges were obtained. It is found that the optimum number for charges simulating the side wall of the tank is 360 point charges distributed over 9 rings which are uniformly distributed along the height of the tank, while the optimum number for charges simulating the bottom and cover of the tank is 316 point charges distributed over 8 concentric rings located at the same height. This distribution gives an average deviation of 0.7% . EFFECT OF TANK PARAMETERS ON ITS INDUCED VOLTAGE Figures (6) through (10) show samples of the obtained results for the induced voltages on spherical and cylindrical tanks. Figure (6) shows the computed spherical tank voltage at different conductor heights near the 500kV T.L. The conductors height range used covers all the prospective heights of the transmission line. The conductor height at the tower is 19.1 meters and the minimum permissible height in the Egyptian standards is 10 meters. It is noticed that the computed tank voltage decreases with increasing the distance between the tank and the transmission line. This is due to the fact that as the distance increases, the tank is subjected to decreasing electric field. It is also noticed that the computed tank voltage does not change appreciably with conductors heights at large distances from the transmission line because at these distances the changes in the electric field with conductors heights are very small. Figure (7) shows the variation of the computed tanks induced voltages (spherical and cylindrical) with their radius when located at 50m from the center line of the 500kV T.L. It is seen that the tank voltage increases with increasing its radius for spherical tanks, while it slightly decreases for cylindrical tanks which can be explained as follows: In cylindrical tanks, as the tank radius increases, with constant height of the tank, the tank moves towards the lower electric fields. Since the tank voltage is a result of integration of electric field, so the tank voltage decreases. This condition is opposite to that for a spherical tank because, in a spherical tank, when the tank radius increases, the tank also moves towards the lower electric field, but in this case the height of the tank increases also, this means that the tank moves also towards the higher field and so its voltage increases. Figure (8) shows the variation of the computed tanks induced voltages with their heights above ground. It is seen that the tanks voltages increase with increasing their height above ground and this can be explained as follows: As the tank height increases, the tank moves away from the ground and approaches the line conductors, and so it becomes in a higher electric field. Figure (9) shows the variation of the computed induced tank voltage with the tank height. It is seen that the tank voltage increases with increasing the tank height where the tank becomes in a higher electric field region. It is noticed also that the increase of tank voltage is more pronounced at short distances from the line center, since at large distances, the electric field is very small and almost constant. The results for the 220 kV transmission line, to a large extent, are more or less similar to those for the 500kV transmission line. Figure (10) shows the computed spherical tank voltages at different transposition cases (abc/a'b'c', abc/b'c'a', abc/c'a'b'). It is noticed that the worst case (maximum tank voltage) for transposition case (abc/a'b'c'), where the induced tank voltages created by the three phases tend to add to each other. For example, the tank voltage at 50m from the center of T.L. for the case abc/a'b'c' is about 2.17 and 1.47 times for the cases abc/b'c'a' and abc/c'a'b' respectively. Figure (11) shows the variation of the computed tanks induced voltages (spherical and cylindrical) with their radius when located at 50m from the center line of the 220kV T.L. It is seen that the tank voltage

increases with increasing its radius for spherical tanks, while it slightly decreases for cylindrical tanks. Figure (12) shows the variation of the computed tanks induced voltages with their heights above ground when located at 50m from the center line of the 220kV T.L. It is seen that the tanks voltages increase with increasing their height above ground. Figure (13) shows the variation of the computed
18000 16000 Tank voltage, Volt 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 Distance from the center of T.L (m) H=19.1m H=15m H=10m

Figure (6) Spherical tanks induced voltage near the 500kV T.L. at different conductors height (H), Rts=5m, Hg=1m
3000 2500 Tank voltage, Volt 2000 1500 1000 500 0 4 5 6 7 Tank radius (m) 8 Cylindrical tank Spherical tank

Figure (7) Variation of tanks induced voltages near the 500kV T.L. with their radius(Rt), H=10m, Hg=1m
3500 3000 Tank voltage, Volt 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Height of the tank above ground (m) Cylindrical tank Spherical tank

Figure (8) Variation of tanks induced voltages near the 500kV T.L. with their height above the ground (Hg), H=10m, Rts=5m, Rtc=8m.

1800 1600 Tank voltage, Volt 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 8 9 10 11 12 13 Tank height (m) 14 15 Dt=50m Dt=100

Figure (9) Variation of cylindrical tanks induced voltage near the 500kV T.L. with its height (Ht), H=10m, Rt=8m, Hg=1m

2500 2000 Tank voltage, Volt 1500 1000 500 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 Distance from the center of T.L (m) abc/a'b'c' abc/b'c'a' abc/c'a'b'

Figure (10) Spherical tanks induced voltage near the 220kV T.L. at different possible transposition cases, H=6.2m, Rt=5m, Hg=1m

1800 1600 Tank voltage, Volt 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 4 5 6 7 Tank radius (m) 8 Cylindrical tank Spherical tank

Figure (11) Variation of tanks induced voltages near the 220kV T.L. with their radius(Rt), H=6.2m, Hg=1m

1800 1600 Tank voltage, Volt 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Height of the tank above ground (m) Cylindrical tank Spherical tank

Figure (12) Variation of tanks induced voltages near the 220kV T.L. with their height above the ground (Hg), H=6.2m, Rts=5m, Rtc=8m.

1200 1000 Tank voltage, Volt 800 600 400 200 0 8 9 10 11 12 13 Tank height (m) 14 15 Dt=50m Dt=100

Figure (13) Variation of cylindrical tanks induced voltage near the 220kV T.L. with its height (Ht), H=6.2m, Rt=8m, Hg=1m induced tank voltage with the tank height when located at 50m from the center line of the 220kV T.L. It is seen that the tank voltage increases with increasing the tank height.

4. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
700 600 Tank voltage, Volt 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Distance from the T.L. conductor (m) Calculated Measured

Figure (14) Measured and calculated induced tanks voltage due to electric field effect (Vc=3630kV)

A laboratory model was built to verify the calculated results. The model represents a line having a conductor of 1cm diameter and 5m length and a metallic sphere, representing the spherical tank, of 3.1cm diameter. The conductor and tank heights from ground level are 52cm and 17cm respectively. Figure (14) shows the measured and calculated values of the induced tank voltage due to electric field effect for a conductor voltage(Vc) of 3630V. It is noticed that the measured values agree with the calculated values, with a maximum error of 25%.

5. CONCLUSIONS 1-The electric field induced voltages on metallic tanks may reach several kilo-volts depending on their locations and dimensions. 2-The electric field induced voltages on metallic tanks increase with increasing their heights above ground level while it decreases with increasing their distances from the T.L. 3-Spherical tanks induced voltage increases with increasing its radius while it decreases for cylindrical tanks. 4- Cylindrical tanks induced voltages increases with increasing their heights. 5- The maximum tank voltage for the double circuit transmission line occurs when the two circuits have the same phase sequence. 6. REFERENCES [1] D. W. Deno and J. M. Silva, Transmission Line Electric Field Shielding by Objects, IEEE Transposition on Power Delivery, Vol. PWRD-2, no. 1, January1987. [2] R. M. El-Hassaneen, Dynamic Behavior of contaminating Particles in Compressed SF6 Insulated Systems, Thesis submitted to Electrical Power and Machine Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, 1992. [3] M. Abdel-salam and A. Al-shehri, Induced Voltages on Fence Wires and Pipelines by AC Power Transmission Lines, IEEE Trans. on Industry Applications, vol.30, No.2, pp.341-349, March/April, 1994. [4] M. Abdel-Slam, H. Anis, A. El-Morshedy and R. Radwan, High Voltage Engineering: Theory and Practice, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, pp.25-30, 2000. [5] R. M. Radwan, R. Y. Amer and A. M. Emam, Combined Effect of Electric and Magnetic Fields of High Voltage Transmission Lines on Metallic Pipelines, paper no. 36-104, CIGRE session 2002.